Health Minister Simon Harris backs Irish Sun’s Show Some Heart campaign to get defibrillator into every Irish school

The Fine Gael politician says he is in full support of having these lifesaving machines put into our schools and says he plans to sit down with Education Minister Richard Bruton to discuss this very soon

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By Adam Higgins

2nd March 2018,7:30 am

HEALTH Minister Simon Harris has backed the Irish Sun’s Show Some Heart campaign to get a defibrillator put into every school in the country.

The Fine Gael politician says he is in full support of having these lifesaving machines put into our schools and says he plans to sit down with Education Minister Richard Bruton to discuss this very soon.

A spokesperson for Harris told the Irish Sun: “The Minister for Health supports increased public access to defibrillation, including in schools.

“The Minister will engage with the Minister for Education on it in due course.

“This will take into account the work of the National Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Steering Group which is considering how best to strengthen the ‘chain of survival’ for cardiac arrest, increasing CPR training, building on the Community First Responder programme and making public access defibrillators more easily accessible.”

The National Steering Group has spent the last year researching ways to help people who go into cardiac arrest outside of hospital, and has considered ­increasing the public’s access to defibrillators.

The group includes an academic advisor, representatives from Dublin Fire Brigade, the HSE, National Ambulance Service and a host of other experts who have met several times over the past year and plan to provide the Government with an update at some stage this year.

Minister Harris told us he is aware of the bill and the Department of Health is currently consulting with other relevant departments on the provisions in the proposed legislation. Speaking to the Irish Sun, Deputy Rock said he will continue to push both Ministers Harris and Bruton to pass the bill and get defibrillators into our schools.

TDs, Senators and Ministers from across the political divide have supported our call for these life-saving devices to be installed in schools. Legislation has been drafted by Fine Gael TD Noel Rock

He said: “Before I introduced this bill to the Dail, I sent it to the Minister and impressed upon him the importance of it. This isn’t about euros or pennies, it’s about lives that could be saved.

“The great thing about this initiative is its simplicity — every school, nationally covered.